I took the Tube from Liverpool Street Station to Southfields, the closest Tube station to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the venue of the tournament. I had to walk for about 20 minutes to my gate (there were several gates as the entry point, and a spectator was assigned to a specific gate based on his/her ticket), which was quite a nice walk in one of London’s posh neighbourhoods 😛 .

The neighbourhood of Wimbledon

The gate was finally opened at 10:30 AM. The multiple gates system was quite good in my opinion where the queue in each gate was not terribly long. I was handed my official ticket at the gate and then got the thorough security check before I was admitted to the ground. And there I was, feeling very excited that I was back in Wimbledon again this year!! Even more excited because I was finally going to watch a Venus Williams’ official singles match for the first time ever; and it happened to be a Wimbledon final match!! 😍

Venus’ match would not start before 2 PM so I had plenty of time before that. So obviously I went around Wimbledon’s beautiful venue, and planned on taking a selfie at Henman Hill with the Wimbledon 2017 flowers arrangement. While doing so, a BBC live camera was apparently shooting the Henman Hill and so me selfie-ing got broadcasted on live TV, lol 😱 .

Selfie-ing at Henman Hill!

After going around for a few rounds, I started to get hungry so I decided to get my favorite dish from two years ago: the southern fried chicken that was only sold at one stall in the whole venue: in the Aorangi food area underneath Court No.1 😛 . This time, though, the chicken was a little bit too overcooked and the chips was too much to me that I could not finish it, haha 😛 . But of course, after that I still had my scoop of strawberry and cream. You know, a trip to Wimbledon is NEVER complete without one!

Southern fried chicken

Because a trip to Wimbledon is NEVER complete without a bowl of strawberry and cream

The weather was not perfect today, where thick cloud was hanging throughout the day and occassional showers fell. So I went underneath the Centre Court, where (finally!) they had put some boards listing the past winners of the championships. As for the (recent) ladies’ singles, here is the partial list:

The list of the ladies’ singles champions

Yep, as you can see, a certain surname is indeed dominating the list since the year 2000! Haha . Yep, Venus Wiliams and Serena Williams had won twelve Wimbledon singles titles for the seventeen years between 2000 and 2016. The other five were won by Petra Kvitova (twice), Marion Bartoli, Amelie Mauresmo, and Maria Sharapova.

Anyway, I decided to enter the Centre Court not long after, as I got quite tired from walking anyway, haha 😆 . But since it was still about 45 minutes before the match would start, I decided to go closer to the court first to take my picture taken 😛 .

Back at Wimbledon Centre Court this year.

Then, I went back to my seat, rested my legs a little bit and charged my camera’s battery while there was still time, haha 😆 . Just before 2 PM, the match preparation started with the ballkids entering the court, followed by the line-judges. At 2 PM, both finalists, Venus Williams and Garbine Muguruza entered the court. At this time, I felt a little bit emotional seeing Venus Williams walking there, still fighting hard for grandslam singles titles, even at the age of 37, while battling an incurable auto-immune disease! To me, she is a total inspiration.

Muguruza won the coin toss and elected to receive, meaning Venus would serve first. The two players warmed up, and then the match started. The match started really competitively and was immediately at a really high level. The match’s first shot was even Venus’ big serve to the T that became an ace.

Venus Williams started the match with an ace

The two players really went toe to toe and so the match was really, really exciting at this point. Muguruza, especially, played really well in my opinion where I felt like she read Venus’ serves really well today. Nonetheless, the match finally reached the score 4*-5 (15-40) on Muguruza’s serve, meaning Venus had two set points, or opportunities, to win the first set. At this time, both players hit amazing shot after shot after shot, producing a long rally in the teens, which ended with Venus’ forehand error that hit the net. And from my observation, this became the turning point of the match.

Garbine Muguruza was reading Venus’ serves well today.

For whatever reason, it appeared to me that Venus dwelled on this point too much, thus affecting her mind state. Since then, she appeared to rapidly lose her timing and focus, and started to hit more and more unforced errors. Muguruza did well where she kept her composure and focus. It was not that Venus did not try. It was obvious that she tried hard; but she just could not string several good points together. As a result? Well, Muguruza won nine straight games since that turning point, closing the match in only 73 minutes and won 7–5, 6–0.

Garbine Muguruza won her second grandslam title.

Venus, being a champion that she is, was being grace in defeat. It was clear that she was disappointed and sad herself, from her voice during the runner-up interview with Sue Barker on court during the trophy ceremony. But indeed, Garbine Muguruza deserved to win today! She played an amazing aggressive tennis and it paid off at Wimbledon. Thus, she won her second grandslam title and became the first player, ever, to have beaten both Serena and Venus Williams in grandslam finals. Her first grandslam title was the French Open last year where she beat Serena, in a match which I also watched in person 😣. Though to be honest, I like Garbine Muguruza. But obviously at this time, I still like both Venus and Serena Williams “better” 😛 .

Garbine Muguruza won Wimbledon 2017.

Venus Williams and her runner-up trophy.

The next match that followed was the men’s doubles final between Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, the fourth seed, versus Mate Pavic and Oliver Marach, the sixteenth seed. Kubot and Melo had been playing especially well this year. And with their victory over Henri Kontinen and John Peers, the first seed, in the semifinals, Marcelo Melo would take the world no.1 position from Henri Kontinen in the following week.

Anyway, I stayed during the first set of the match, which went toe to toe but in the end, Pavic/Marach got the important break from Kubot/Melo in the twelfth game, and won it 7–5. I decided to stretch my legs after the first set and left my seat. I went around the ground where at the time, some other events were also being held, namely the legends events and the wheelchair events.

It was around 6 PM already so I decided to have dinner. I got the sizzling pheri-pheri chicken where I exchanged the bread for extra salad, haha. This dish turned out to be really delicious, btw, and I actually preferred this one than the southern fried chicken I had earlier! Haha 😆 .

Sizzling pheri-pheri chicken with lots of salad!

I went back to my seat and at the time, Kubot/Melo had won the second and third set 7–5, 7–6, respectively. However, they were down a break in the fourth set already. Pavic/Marach took the fourth set 6–3, meaning the match officially went to the decider fifth set. Both teams held their nerves really well during the decider. Kubot/Melo had the slight advantage of serving first, and so that Pavic/Marach had to face the pressure of serving to keep the match alive for a few times. This pressure almost got to them were Kubot/Melo had a few break points and even championships points; but Pavic/Marach were able to save them all.

An exciting men’s doubles final this year between Lukasz Kubot/Marcello Melo (in the closer side of the court) versus Mate Pavic/Oliver Marach (in the farther side of the court).

The match went toe to toe in the decider, and finally hitting 8*–9 score just after 8 PM. For whatever reason, I felt really tired already (I think Venus’ loss took some energy out of me 😛 ). I felt like I already had my ticket money worth anyway, even though the final ladies’ doubles match was still scheduled following the men’s doubles final. And so I decided to leave the venue.

I walked back to Southfields station and then took the Tube to Victoria. I checked-in at my hotel in the area and got into my room. I checked the score, and it turned out after more than 4.5 hours, Kubot/Marach finally won the fifth set 13–11, haha. The ladies’ final followed afterwards. The match turned out to be the complete opposite where the second seed, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, double-bagelled (won 6–0, 6–0) the ninth seed, Chan Hao-Ching/Monica Niculescu.

Marcelo Melo’s return to world no.1 was made even sweeter with a Wimbledon title.

As my Instagram followers (@azilko) have known now, I went to … Wimbledon in London this weekend!! Yeay!! 😎

This trip was extremely impulsive because I just started to prepare for everything literally on Friday morning. I used the same strategy as two years ago when I went on a similar trip to watch Serena Williams completed the second Serena Slam. I was super, super lucky to get a last-minute official ticket for the ladies’ final this year .

Back at Wimbledon Centre Court this year.

I already toyed with the idea of this spontaneous trip since I was applying for a UK visa this May actually. I told myself that if Venus Williams made the final, no matter what I would go (provided that I got the ticket, of course). I mean, this would certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity (Serena Williams did not play Wimbledon this year because of her pregnancy). I already checked everything (how to get there, accommodation, etc) and I knew this would be a costly trip given the last-minute nature. But it was worth the attempt if it was for a possibility to see Venus Williams contesting for a singles grandslam title!! I knew I must try to grab this if I was presented the chance!!

Venus Williams started the match with an ace.

And then on Tuesday, Venus Williams won her quarterfinals match against the reigning French Open champion, Jelena Ostapenko (coincidentally, that day I also posted the Roland Garros part of my 2017 Early Summer Weekend TripS series where I watched Jelena Ostapenko won that title 😛 ). So suddenly, it appeared to me that I might actually need to execute this plan! Haha 😆

The ladies’ singles draw of Wimbedon 2017, after the semifinals. Venus Williams was playing really, really well. Source: Wikipedia

I tried to get the ticket on Thursday but unfortunately I was unsuccessful. However, I still had a second chance which was the last official sales on Friday morning. This time, luckily I got one!! This was actually the better scenario in the sense that I already knew Venus Williams would play Garbine Muguruza on Saturday by this time. Had I bought the ticket on Thursday, it would have been a gamble because the semifinals still had not yet been played at that point, haha. It is quite funny, though, that two years ago I bought the ticket after knowing Serena Williams would play Garbine Muguruza. So is Muguruza my lucky charm? Hmm. Anyway, after getting the ticket, I quickly arranged everything else (how to get there and back, accommodation, etc). And in the evening, I left for London! This was also good as it meant I would end my flight-free streak a little bit sooner, haha 😛 .

Come on, Venus!! We all know you CAN do it!!

Obviously, this was a super fun last-minute weekend trip. As you (might) know, Garbine Muguruza ended up winning the title. As a fan, I cannot say that I did not feel sad with Venus’ loss, especially I was present there witnessing it. It was the classic mental match where one point determined the fate for the rest of the match. The point was 4*-5 (15-40) on Muguruza’s serve in the first set. Nonetheless, I still had fun in the tournament, as I love Wimbledon!! And adding that I finally got to see a Venus Williams’ official singles match (an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters in 2012 doesn’t count 😛 ), despite the outcome was not ideal to me, made it even better! I hope Venus will bounce back from this loss, as she has been showing great tennis form this year.

This is all I have for now. As usual, here are some teasers from the trip:

Oh wow it is the end of June already! The start of the month felt like just yesterday but of course it wasn’t and, as usual, time flew by really fast.

Overall June has been a good month for me here. First of all, the Dutch weather turned out to be, in general, surprisingly great, haha 😆 . My work was also fine and I actually felt quite satisfied about it. My office also organized some really fun events during the month. More on this on a latter post, though. I also did quite some travels, two trips to be precise. But both of them took place in the first half of the month. To even things out, I took it slowly and just stayed in Amsterdam in its second half, haha.

Anyway, to make it a full circle (sort of), if I started June by being excited about the French Open (well, the tournament actually started a week before that, haha 😛 ), now I am ending June by being excited about Wimbledon! This week the qualifying stage takes place with the main events starting next week. I always love this time of the year in tennis season. For whatever reasons, seeing a green grass tennis court on TV with a match being played on it makes me really happy!